Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Makes New Investment in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 15,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $529,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BFH. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $155,419,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $153,464,000. State Street Corp bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $52,807,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,438,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 62.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,169,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,779,000 after purchasing an additional 830,855 shares in the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

Bread Financial stock opened at $37.63 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 1.94. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.19 and a 52-week high of $41.89.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.67) by $1.57. The business had revenue of $1,000.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $984.36 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 13.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($2.68) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 7.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 5.87%.

Insider Activity at Bread Financial

In related news, major shareholder Turtle Creek Asset Management sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.67, for a total value of $1,605,150.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 293,092 shares in the company, valued at $10,454,591.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 315,000 shares of company stock worth $10,229,650 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Bread Financial from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered Bread Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $31.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Bread Financial from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Bread Financial from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered Bread Financial from an “in-line” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $29.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bread Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.00.

About Bread Financial

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc provides tech-forward payment and lending solutions to customers and consumer-based industries in North America. It offers credit card and other loans financing services, including risk management solutions, account origination, and funding services for private label and co-brand credit card programs, as well as through Bread partnerships; and Comenity-branded general purpose cash-back credit.